The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of cartridge feed apparatus or system for an automatic firing weapon or gun.
Generally speaking, the cartridge feed system for an automatic firing weapon or gun as contemplated by the invention is of the type comprising two oppositely situated ammunition feeds for the selective infeed of two different ammunition belts to an ammunition infeed location. A feed device is driven by the breech-block of the weapon. This feed device has a groove, inclined to the weapon axis, in a spring or resilient sleeve connected with the breechblock. Further, there is provided a respective slide for each ammunition belt. These slides are operatively connected with feed pawls for moving both of the ammunition belts. One of the slides can be actuated by engagement with such groove.
With a state-of-the-art cartridge feed system of this type, as disclosed in German Patent Publication No. 1,578,427, there is provided a slide for the feed of the cartridge belts. This slide engages in a groove of a spring or resilient sleeve which is connected with the breechblock head. During the return movement of the breechblock head together with the spring sleeve the slide is displaced at right angles to the weapon axis. So that the slide continuously engages with the groove, it is necessary that the spring sleeve have a length amounting to at least that of the stroke of the breechblock head. Such long spring sleeve, which is connected with the breechblock head and therefore participates in the entire stroke of such breechblock head, requires a correspondingly long breechblock housing.
A further drawback of this prior art cartridge feed system resides in the fact that, the slide together with the feed pawls for the cartridges is arranged between the spring sleeve and the cartridge belt. Consequently, the cartridge belt cannot be directly infed adjacent the lengthwise axis of the weapon barrel and there is necessary a pronounced deflection of the cartridges which must be inserted by the breechblock into the weapon barrel.
There is already known a belt indexing device from German Patent No. 1,578,400, which is constructed such that there can be avoided the need for providing a long breechblock housing. However, with this construction the feed of the cartridge belts is accomplished by means of indexing or switching wheels and not by means of feed pawls.
Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,418 there is known to the art a cartridge infeed apparatus wherein both of the cartridge belts are infed relatively closely to the lengthwise axis of the weapon barrel. In this way there can be avoided any pronounced deflection of the cartridges which must be inserted into the weapon barrel by the breechblock. However, the drive for the feed of the cartridge belts is not accomplished by the returning breechblock head, rather by the recoil or return motion of the entire firing weapon.